An $8 billion mixed use proposal – with the potential to create 140,000 total jobs, has been proposed for the city’s west.
The proposal for a World Trade Centre Sydney (WTC Sydney), by the Aerotropolis Group, has been made to the NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet. It includes four WTC towers, an international convention and exhibition centre, commercial space for multinational companies, an innovation and incubation centre for start-ups and retail and residential space.
With a vision for a net zero carbon development, the site of the proposed WTC Sydney was master planned by Woods Bagot.
Design director Neil Hill explained the task as one of considering the future and the next generation of development in a way that will help a sustainable growth pattern to develop.
"In combination, the new Western Sydney Airport and the realisation of the Greater Sydney Commission's strategy for the Western Parklands City is an extraordinary opportunity to conceive urban development hosting high tech industries synthesised with the unique natural environment of the Nepean river system and Cumberland Parklands for sustainable living," Hill says.
Energy production, use, storage, recycling and sharing between different types of development in the cluster of the towers and low rise mixed use – and the spaces between them – is a key part of the sustainability goal.
In developing the master plan, Woods Bagot says they deliberately set out to conceive a development which speaks to the future of Western Sydney. The intent is to achieve great connectivity for allied uses across the project, economy and resilience of the development and to promote sustainable living with food, entertainment, commerce, work and housing, all within reach.
Aerotropolis Group CEO Jomon Varghese says the proposal “will resolve the structural problem faced by Sydney by bringing balance to our city which is historically tilted to the east".
"We are excited about this project, it will create an ecosystem to promote international trade, economic activity and employment generation by connecting Sydney to the 322 cities in 90 countries through the WTC network. WTC Sydney will ensure a seamless flow of demand from these 322 international cities to Sydney, causing export from NSW to increase significantly," he says.
Varghese says he hopes the centre would be opened by 2026 –which coincidently is the same time the new Western Sydney Airport is slated to begin operation.
